Recent updates

"They said it had to be done to balance the books. You might remember that local schools had their budgets cut by £33 per child by the Conservatives at Devon County Council" reports Devon Lib Dem County Councillor Alan Connett.

"Well, today at County Hall those same Tory councillors will be voting to put £20 MILLION, yes £20 million, of savings into the council's reserves at the bank and so the savings increase from £51 million to £71 million!"

Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate Alex White is already out working with Lib Dem Councillors and supporters collecting signatures for a petition opposing cuts in funding to Devon schools. "Devon schools have always suffered from a funding shortfall" said Alex whilst campaigning in Bow with County Councillor Nick Way "But the new Tory formula is just making things worse and some schools might e ven have to reduce numbers of teaching staff. A serious re-think of the funding formula is needed to prevent this happening."

You may have seen in the news that a huge £24,000 pay rise (that's 26%) was handed to the boss of the Devon and Somerset Local Enterprise Partnership. His pay is now £115,000 a year!

Devon County Council sits on the board of the Partnership, which is meant to encourage jobs and industry into the area. We are astonished that such a massive pay hike could be approved especially when so many local people have had very modest increases or none at all.

At the moment the Government pays schools in Devon £290 a year LESS for each child than the national average. The Government have announced a new 'Fairer Funding' plan that means that around 200 schools in Devon will actually have their budget cut, while other schools will get a bit more. On top of that, the Conservatives running Devon County Council plan their own extra cut to schools, taking away £2.2 million. That is a £33 cut for every child.

Over the last 6 months, the Lib Dems have been winning Council Seats again. We have had 3 gains in Teignmouth and 8 gains in Cornwall plus a gain in Totnes and another in Exmouth. On December 15th we have a chance to keep that momentum going and possible get the Devon haul up to 7, just one behind Cornwall.

Lib Dem Councillor John Nutley leads fight against closure of the last bank in town.

Ashburton mayor Councillor John Nutley has joined local residents in taking issue with the decision of Lloyds bank to close their Ashburton Branch.

Cllr. Nutley has expressed dismay at the decision saying: "Lloyds has given no consideration for the businesses, the community and the elderly people who live in the town and use the bank and how this will affect them.

In a report to Devon County Council cabinet on 13 July, Conservative councillors agreed to remove the current automatic entitlement to transport for post-16 students.

Alan King, business manager at Okehampton College, has told the council that the new policy could lead to existing school buses running with empty seats that sixth formers could be using. He added:" On the point that parents can provide or arrange lifts for their post-16 child, can we ask if this is a serious option or simply an alternative suggestion someone at County Hall thought of? It is true that most of our families do have access to a private car but for the majority it is one car per household and this is used for the main breadwinner to get to travel to work".

Shoppers needing to park for a short time at St Saviours car park willnow be forced to pay £2 for a full day's parking they do not need thanks toLocal Conservative councillors who decided to vote on party lines andsupport doubling of the charge which was opposed by the Lib Dems.